This "virtual newspaper for an aquatic world" contains musings, science, facts and opinions-both profound and mundane-about the River region, its people and natural resources, and their nexus to the Washington, DC scene.
Comments and other written contributions are always appreciated.

Friday, January 16, 2015

Mississippi River Basin Water Resource Weekly News

~Most of the Water News - None of the Spin~

USDA Regional Conservation Partnership Program Conservation Projects Include Significant Mississippi River Basin RepresentationOn Wednesday, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the awarding of $372.5 million for 115 conservation projects to be implemented across the nation under USDA's Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), a program newly authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. At least one project was selected in each of the 50 states, including numerous projects within the ten main-stem Mississippi River states. Twenty-four of the selected RCPP projects are focused within eight "Critical Conservation Areas" (CCAs) named in 2014 by NRCS, with five of those 24 designated as Mississippi River Basin CCA projects. For additional background and more watershed-specific details, see our RCPP announcement summary.

Next Week in Congress and Elsewhere
Monday is a Federal holiday, and the U.S. House and Senate will reconvene on Tuesday (to hear the President's State of the Union address), with potential floor votes happening later in the week on the Keystone XL pipeline and Homeland Security (including FEMA) funding on the Senate side, and on a " "Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act" in the House. Many Congressional committees are still in the process of organizing, which involves formalizing membership, appointing subcommittee members, chairs and ranking members, and outlining committee oversight activities for the upcoming session. Most of the committee action outlined in our weekly preview of watershed-related Hill activities are of that nature.

Also next week, look for the release of USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Program findings from its ongoing evaluation of water quality in the principal aquifers of the United States, including several notable findings for aquifers supplying irrigation and public drinking water within the Mississippi River Basin.

NOAA: 2014 U.S. slightly warmer than average; Arkansas, Louisiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana each had one of 10 coldest years on record http://ow.ly/H42Qz (data sets available here http://ow.ly/GVf3O)

Goats fighting America's plant invasion: Eating machines enjoying a US smorgasbord of invasive plants http://ow.ly/HeOOe (In case you need a goat to fight invasive plants, here is a map literally depicting every goat in the US ow.ly/HeYnJ)

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Science Conference; Houston, Texas, February 16-19 (highlighting oil spill and ecosystem science research during the five years since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill) http://ow.ly/Hg8d2

White House threatens to veto House bill designed to curb some of Obama administration’s most costly regulations http://ow.ly/HeVnU

Many Minnesota public safety workers say they are not prepared to deal with an oil train or pipeline accident http://ow.ly/HqIUQ

Politics and People-

Mike Boots, acting White House Council on Environmental Quality chairman, plans to leave the position in March http://ow.ly/HiN2J

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) said Monday that she won't run for governor in 2016 http://ow.ly/Hfnox

National Great Rivers Research and Education Center recruits six scientists to serve as faculty fellows for 2014-2015 academic year http://ow.ly/HauJ7

Many candidates lining up for November 3, 2015 Kentucky gubernatorial election as filing deadline approaches http://ow.ly/HaEsM

Pennsylvania Governor-Elect will appoint John Quigley as Department of Environmental Protection Secretary and Cindy Dunn as Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary http://ow.ly/HgcEH

House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop announces creation of a new Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations http://ow.ly/HiOp1

Rep. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas new chair of once-prominent House Tea Party Caucus http://ow.ly/HmJKp